To investigate the function of nitric oxide (a major endothelium-derived relaxing factor) in cerebral arteries after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in vivo, several nitric oxide-related substances were administered to dogs that had undergone double SAH. These included L-arginine (a substrate for the formation of nitric oxide), NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, an analog of L-arginine that inhibits the formation of nitric oxide from L-arginine), and superoxide dismutase (SOD, which protects nitric oxide from oxidation by superoxide anion), which were given via intracisternal injection. The diameter of the basilar artery was assessed angiographically. In intact dogs, intracisternal bolus injections of L-arginine (1, 10, or 100 mumol) produced a dose-dependent increase in the internal diameter of the basilar artery; conversely, L-NMMA reduced the diameter of the basilar artery from baseline in a dose-dependent manner. On Days 4 and 7, after two intracisternal injections of autologous blood, L-arginine produced transient vasodilation of the spastic basilar artery, whereas L-NMMA produced no significant vasoconstriction. The vasodilator effect of L-arginine after SAH was stronger on Day 4 than on Day 7, but less than in intact dogs. Intracisternal injection of SOD, which caused no effect per se, enhanced the duration of the vasodilator effect of L-arginine on the basilar artery on Day 4 and both the magnitude and duration of that effect on Day 7. Thus, the basal release of nitric oxide was impaired after SAH, but the ability to synthesize nitric oxide in the vascular wall was not abolished. The finding that the simultaneous injection of SOD enhanced and prolonged the vasodilation induced by sufficient exogenous L-arginine suggests that the inactivation of nitric oxide by superoxide anion contributes to the development of vasospasm.

Summary:We angiographically assessed the vasodilatory effects of vasopressin and oxytocin on the basilar arteries in dogs. Intracisternal bolus injections of vasopressin (100 pmol and 1 nmol) and oxytocin (1 and 10 nmol) produced dose-dependent increases in the internal diameter of the basilar arteries without affecting mean arterial blood pres sure. The maximal dilatations of the basilar arteries in duced by 1 nmol vasopressin and 10 nmol oxytocin were 142.3 ± 19.9 and 136.8 ± 25.5% of the baseline, respec tively. When the same peptides were injected into the vertebral artery, the maximal dilatations were similar, but the duration of response was shorter. Pretreatment with intracisternal injection of 10 /-lmol �-monomethyl-L arginine (L-NMMA), which inhibits the synthesis of nitric oxide from L-arginine, suppressed the vasodilatory re sponses induced by intracisternal injection of vasopressin Current evidence indicates that vasopressin and oxytocin, circulating vasoactive peptides released from the neurohypophysial gland, play a role in reg ulating cerebral as well as peripheral vascular to nus. Regional differences in sensitivity and respon siveness of the vasculature to vasopressin and oxy tocin have been demonstrated in the cerebral and coronary arteries in different animal species (Faraci et aI., 1988; Myers et aI., 1989; Suzuki et aI., 1992). These peptides reduce resistance of large vessels and increase resistance of small vessels. Vaso pressin-immunoreactive nerve fibers have been identified in the cerebral pial arteries of guinea pigs (Itakura et aI. , 1988). Such nerve fibers suggest that 285and oxytocin and by intraarterial injection of vasopressin. Calcitonin gene-related peptide also caused dilatation of the basilar artery when injected into the cisterna magna, but its effect was not blocked by L-NMMA. L-NMMA reduced the basal diameter of the basilar artery in a dose dependent manner; L-arginine produced dose-dependent increases in diameter. The vasoconstriction induced by L-NMMA was reversed by high concentrations of L-argi nine. These results suggest that vasopressin and oxytocin dilate the basilar arteries via the release of nitric oxide from both the intraluminal and the extraluminal sides and that synthesis and release of nitric oxide in the vascular wall contribute to maintenance of basal vascular tonus.

Background and Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the regional differences in the in vivo vasodilator responses to vasopressin, which is thought to stimulate the release of nitric oxide from the endothelium, in canine cerebral arteries by angiography.

In vivo experiments on the vasoactive effects of vasopressin and oxytocin on cerebral circulation were carried out in anesthetized dogs, using an electromagnetic flowmeter to measure vertebral blood flow and angiography to measure the internal diameter of the basilar artery. Direct bolus infusion of 1 pmol to 1 nmol of vasopressin or 10 pmol to 10 nmol of oxytocin into a femoral-vertebral artery shunt produced a dose-dependent decrease in vertebral artery blood flow without significantly affecting mean arterial blood pressure. Vasopressin was more potent than endothelin and neuropeptide Y, which have also been demonstrated to induce long-lasting decreases in vertebral artery blood flow. However, direct bolus infusion of vasopressin (100 pmol and 1 nmol) or oxytocin (1 nmol and 10 nmol) into the vertebral artery dilated major vessels including the vertebral, anterior spinal, and basilar arteries, as well as the circle of Willis and its main branches, while endothelin (1 nmol) and neuropeptide Y (5 nmol) caused no change in the diameters of major cerebral arteries. The V1 antagonist d(CH2)5tyrosine(methyl) arginine vasopressin suppressed the effects of both vasopressin and oxytocin. Vasopressin was over 10 times as potent as oxytocin in both assays. The vasodilatory effect of vasopressin, which may be mediated by an endothelium-dependent mechanism, was functionally damaged in dogs after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. These data suggest regional differences in the sensitivity and responsiveness of vasculature to vasopressin and oxytocin, and specifically that both peptides act through V1 receptors to decrease the resistance of large vessels and increase the resistance of small vessels.

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